by Bryon Swanson

(Prime of Your Life was excerpted with the permission of authors)

Prime of Your Life is a new book by Woodrow Kroll and Don Hawkins. It is insightful and very timely. By sharing real stories from their own experience and from the lives of others, the authors help you see the triumphs and struggles that may lie ahead. They provide helpful suggestions and examples of what to do.

Kroll and Hawkins launch into their work by stating, "As midlife becomes more crowded than Chicago's O'Hare Airport the day before Thanksgiving, there are a variety of issues we need to face. We'll examine our attitude toward our own aging, consider a biblical perspective on change, explore options for caring for aging parents, as well as take a closer look at our adult children and the empty-nest factor. We'll revisit a number of interrelated topics in order to gain a full perspective. For example, issues such as making a will, deciding on a nursing home, and caring for a loved one with Alzheimer's require more than a single, brief treatment. That's why you'll find us coming back to these and other crucial concerns more than once in the course of this book" (p. 13).

Since this website generally deals with the issues of Christian giving and financial stewardship, I can't help but focus on similar sections of the book. Kroll and Hawkins write, "Dealing with the thorny financial issues that come with growing older can be threatening. Because few of our parents truly understand financial matters, they tend to put off dealing with them, often until it's too late. But with the competent help available today, there's no need to make that mistake" (p. 127).

Both authors have faced difficult family decisions for the care needs of their parents. Dr. Kroll writes, "Shortly after my father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, I received a call from my mother. Since my dad had always handled the family finances but now was too confused to do so, Mother had to take over. She was certainly capable, but rusty. My mother needed some reassurance and some help.

"My wife and I took a week of vacation and went to my parents' home. We were there for a visit, and we had a good one. We were also there to try to make some sense of their finances. It was time to perform a family financial physical. My brother and sister had already done some of the preliminary work, and they had left behind a written list of what they had discovered. It kept us from plowing the same ground" (pp. 131 - 132).

Performing a family financial physical does not stop with the inventory process. The authors go on to discuss the importance of proper estate planning to address personal desires and family needs. They interviewed several attorneys including Steve Nickel, former president of the Back to the Bible Foundation. He said, "Some people have a lot of money, who've collected a significant amount of assets, or who own their own businesses. Appropriate estate planning can certainly assist those individuals, but everyone needs to recognize the benefits of setting up an estate plan that meets the needs of their family, even families with limited assets" (p. 161).

Kroll and Hawkins go on to state: "Others just don't want to face their own mortality. As a friend put it recently, 'I'd rather go to the dentist than make a will. I know both are important, and to be candid about it, I don't enjoy either one. But making a will reminds me too much that I'm more than half way through my life. I know it's foolish to think that making a will could hasten death--in fact I know it can't--but it makes me uncomfortable.' There's something about making a will that puts many of us in more of a 'prepared to die' mode than we'd like to be. While most of us recognize the fallacy in that kind of thinking, we still tend to postpone what we know to be important" (p. 161).

Reading this book is a must for every fifty-something or older person who wants to see what the future holds or who needs help in coping with the here and now. Find the help and answers you need from two men that you have grown to love and trust.

The professional staff of the Back to the Bible Foundation is ready to listen and assist you in designing an estate plan that creates your legacy for your children and grandchildren, and makes a difference for Christ. Contact us by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or by calling us toll-free at 1-800-759-6655.